Terence Crawford captures title from Ricky Burns in Scotland

Draped in red, white and blue, Terence Crawford entered the SSE Hydro arena to a hostile reception from the Glasgow crowd. Ricky Burns meanwhile came out to a heroic welcome from his adoring fans. Carrying the weight of a nation on his shoulders, ‘Braveheart’ climbed between the ropes as an underdog, despite being the defending champion against the slick and crafty Crawford.

Crawford traveled to the Scottish shores with a big reputation. The fact that Terence took the fight in Burns’ backyard despite some questionable decisions in favor of Burns was admirable. Meanwhile Ricky Burns came in with a cloud of doubt looming over his head. Back to back sub standard performances, one of which was a decision victory many felt was unjust, Burns had a point to prove. The Beltran fight was particularly a brutal night’s work in which Burns suffered a broken jaw, an injury which no doubt weighed heavily on his mind, and a chink in ‘Braveheart’s armor which Crawford would look to exploit.

The opening two rounds were a positive start for Burns, with neither man overly committing to anything meaningful, Burns found a home for a steady stream of jabs. Crawford switched from orthodox to southpaw smoothly but ineffectively in the early settings. Round 4 turned in favor of the American, opening up with a mid round rally as Burns lay on the ropes, allowing Crawford to take the round. Rounds 5 through 7 were key rounds as the fight began to slip away from Burns. Any attack of note from Burns was responded to in kind and then some from Crawford, a common trend through the fight.

Crawford’s switch hitting had Burns dumfounded. Crawford controlled the distance with ease, picking Burns off as he reached in with shots. Grimacing when Crawford landed anything significant up top, question marks arose of Burns repaired jaw. Repeatedly covering up on the ropes, Burns allowed Crawford to tee off with some eye catching hurtful shots. Sitting on his stool in between rounds 10 and 11, Burns could be heard remarking being countered when he goes to the body.

In untypical Burns fashion, he was doing more thinking than punching. Coming into the final round, Burns clearly needed a knockout to win the fight. “Win this round”, he was ordered by his corner. Whilst he came out with intent, it was Crawford who finished in style, hurting Burns in search of a big finale. As the final bell rung, their faiths were now in the hands of the three judges.

The three judges ringside scored the contest, 116-112, 117-111, 116-112 in favor of the winner and the new WBO Lightweight world champion, Terence Crawford. No one could argue the scorecards. Speaking at ringside, Terence Crawford said, “I’m lost for words,” living up to his quiet demeanor. “We knew Ricky had a good jab, so we wanted to throw him off his jab and make him reach” explained the newly crowned champ.

On his part, Burns gave Crawford his due credit, “The better man won tonight. It was a tricky fight. Really awkward, switch hitting and he controlled the distance. I will be back”. Burns brushed off any doubts over his jaw and insisted it caused no problems during the fight.

As the new WBO Lightweight champion, Terence Crawford justified the hype coming in, beating the champion on his home turf with a smooth performance. Whilst he didn’t put forth a spectacular performance, a shift in gears was never really required. Every time Crawford did open up with intent, you felt he could have done that bit more. Nonetheless he handled Burns with ease, and that in itself was impressive.

After his last two performances, some may have felt Burns was a weak champion. Whilst this did not help his case, his previous performance was nothing short of courageous considering his injury. Tonight he was simply out classed. Burns’ promoter Eddie Hearn mentioned Crawford or Beltran rematches and stated Burns would be back for the summer.

While neither is likely next, as Beltran is set to clash with Roman Martinez on April 12th on the Pacquaio vs. Bradley undercard. The winner may face Crawford for his newly acquired crown. Having knocked out British Lightweight number two, Kevin Mitchell, a domestic clash is not likely as both Burns and Hearn reinforced Ricky is a world level contender. One thing is certain, with a disappointing run of form, Burns needs an impressive performance over a credible top ten opponent to prove his worth at the top of the division.